Monument record 7070/0/2 - Neolithic Long Barrow, south of Broamenthill Spinney

The southernmost of two Neolithic long barrows. A radiocarbon date of charcoal from the lower fill of one of the ditches was early Neolithic, 3810-3700 cal BC.

{3} Archaeological investigations were conducted by MOLA Northampton for NCC Highways over 2013-15 in stages prior to the construction of the Flore-Weedon Bypass. Geophysical survey, fieldwalking and trial trench excavation was undertaken. The proposed road alignment was subsequently altered in order to avoid the long barrows.

Three trial trenches were excavated through the southern long barrow. The ditch on the northern side of the was 8.80m wide and 1.32m deep. Limestone slabs had slipped or fallen down the inner (southern) edge of the ditch together with large quantities of smaller pieces. The limestone fragments were presumably used to create the burial mound but, being unstable, had later slipped into the ditch. Later fills contained less and less limestone. A small group of sherds from an early Neolithic Carinated Bowl were found together with two accompanying sherds of Impressed Ware of middle Neolithic date in one of the later fills. The same fill also produced a piece of animal bone sharpened into a cutting/scraping implement. Animal bone from a later fill included a cattle humerus that was of a size proportional to an aurochs, a species of wild ox that became extinct before the end of the Bronze Age. Two sherds of possible early Bronze Age pottery were found in the uppermost fill.

The distance bettwen the southern and northern ditch was 12.8m. The southern ditch was 7.80m wide and 1.22m deep with a similar depositional profile. Middle Neolithic pottery was found in one of the stabilisation fills and a piece of red deer antler was found in a later fill.

The west end ditch of the long barrow was 3.40m wide and 0.44m deep with a similar depositional sequence.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<2> Brown, J., 2014, Archaeological geophysical survey and trial trench evaluation of the A45 Northampton to Daventry Link Road, Northamptonshire, 2013-2014 (Report). SNN110061.

<3> Brown, J., 2019, The Brumut Hills: Two Neolithic long barrows near Flore (Article). SNN111724.

Record last edited

Sep 17 2021 2:59PM